Business	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Business [Abstract]
Business	1. Business Health Care REIT, Inc., an S&P 500 company with headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, is an equity real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that invests in seniors housing and health care real estate. Our full service platform also offers property management and development services to our customers. As of December 31, 2011, our diversified portfolio consisted of 937 properties in 46 states. Founded in 1970, we were the first real estate investment trust to invest exclusively in health care facilities.

The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, the major products or services it sells or provides and its principal markets, including the locations of those markets. If the entity operates in more than one business, the disclosure also indicates the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination (for example, assets, revenues, or earnings).

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 275

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 2

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6927468&loc=d3e6003-108592

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher AICPA

-Name Statement of Position (SOP)

-Number 94-6

-Paragraph 10

-LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.

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